Classic car(heart) verses sensible car (head)

jphanna · 21-03-2009, 04:42 AM

1985 and my VK valiant got cleaned up by P plater going through a stop sign and wrote it off. I was ok (minor injuries) but needed a car soon . I looked at various newish cars back then but i was only 19 and my parents were going to bail me out for some of the cost so they had a say in the type of car i bought. I ended up getting the wedge nose celica (that i mentioned in another post). At the time the celica cost the same as a late model falcon so it wasn’t cheap and i had that for about a year before i spotted a replica mustang GT350 in the window of a crash shop. They were asking around $13,000 back then. I had a good job and the price wasn’t an issue to me.

This was the one and only time i truly fell for a muscle car even though it was a car with an engine (mild from memory?) and looks like that couldn’t possible be considered an everyday driver. It was a complete bumper to bumper rebuild and i couldnt take my eyes of it and i have never been a mustang fan before but it was just THIS car that i fell for. I begged and pleaded with my parents to let me sell the celica and buy this car but no amount of begging, guilt treatment, sulking, anything i could use to convince them to allow me to buy it, worked. They won.
In this case my heart clearly would have won over my head but it was my parents that stopped me from making that decision. They were probably right but i will never know what it would have been like to have, if i won.

Have you ever had to make the hard decision and was it your head or heart that won?

rocket67 · 21-03-2009, 06:57 AM

I know what you mean.

Just to whet your appetite -

And a 66 Fastback currently being restored

Plenty of Mustangs have been imported over the last few years. So perhaps it is time to follow your dream.

Rocket.

mustang70 · 21-03-2009, 11:34 AM

they were right in regards to keeping the car that was probably more reliable and used less fuel. if you had kept either cars till today onewould be worth $1000 and the other wold be worth more than you paid for it.

When i got some money together from the sale of my flat years ago I pondered many cars but they were all classics.

No decicision in my opinion, I drove great cars in my late teens and early twenties and then spent too long driving a camry wagon of all things as it was tidy reliable etc. I now use my XY wagon as a work vehicle that does 50 to 100KM every day. it breaks down, i curse it and then i fix it. The camry never broke down, but..it sucked.

Buzz Box · 21-03-2009, 08:22 PM

As a daily driver they were probably right but a weekender or one or two days week maybe the other way around......

jphanna · 21-03-2009, 08:56 PM

it was like the fastback model like the bottom red one in the pics above.

what is it about THAT shape that you cant use words to describe....

azaxr8 · 21-03-2009, 09:42 PM

i agree jphanna, if the money was there i would of gone with my heart. But i'm sure my parents would of not wanted me in one haha.

Beautiful car these mustangs.

OzJavelin · 23-03-2009, 09:32 AM

Old cars like Mustangs are great as regular weekend drivers and can be driven semi-regularly; I drive my Javelins to work a couple of times a week. However I'd always have a good, modern car for the tough, everyday driving we expect these days. We expect to be able to get in a car in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night and it will start first go, the headlights are "useful", the heater works straight up, it doesn't leak, it will stop straight evertime, it will sit in traffic for hours on end with the A/C cranked up, it only needs scheduled maintenance, it gets good fuel economy, it will sit on 110km/h at <2000RPM, and can be driven from one side of Australia to another only stopping for fuel. This is not the definition of most cars built prior to about 1990.

The older cars can do a lot of these things but at a more relaxed pace. Those of us over about 35yo can probably remember trips with our parents where we'd only drive for a few hours before letting the car cool down, or just check the oil/water, etc.

Personally I'll always have an old, interesting car .. AND a new(ish) daily driver.

Rod
1969 AMC Javelin
1974 AMC Javelin
1969 Dodge Phoenix
1970 Plymouth Fury III
2001 Ford AU XL V8
2003 Holden SV8

mcnews · 23-03-2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jphanna

it was like the fastback model like the bottom red one in the pics above.

what is it about THAT shape that you cant use words to describe....

I always though the Aussie Chargers had it all over the Stangs in the looks department

You should see all the rotten old stangs in paddocks and stuff in the Phillipines and other places where the Yanks had military bases in the 70s and 80s before pulling out in the 90s.

jphanna · 23-03-2009, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnews

I always though the Aussie Chargers had it all over the Stangs in the looks department

You should see all the rotten old stangs in paddocks and stuff in the Phillipines and other places where the Yanks had military bases in the 70s and 80s before pulling out in the 90s.

if you talking aussie muscle then thats a different topic to me.

charger
falcon coupes (60's and 70's)
orig monaro

all classics to me but i got a soft spot for the charger as well.

the yanks have some many more shells to pick from.

javelin (is a beauty)
orig camaro
64 fastback mustang
plymouth roadrunner? superbee etc
chev corvair (watched frank gardener race one in 70's)
chev monza (watched moffat race his in 70's)

KPOJ · 23-03-2009, 11:32 AM

Mustangs at the moment are cheaper then american ones. The Americans are buying them from australia

Bit of inspiration, mine

one we imported

Bud Bud · 23-03-2009, 12:37 PM

Love the 64-65 square back mustangs. There was nothing to compare to these beast back then. Absolutely classics today.

AS for the Aussie Charger just brilliant considering it was an Aussie car design. Having said that, we were absolutely spoilt in the late 60's to the mid 70's with the Monaro, Ford coupes and of course the Charger in this country back then anyway.

jphanna · 23-03-2009, 12:57 PM

the aussie falcon coupe is legend stuff.....but not with the razor blades it came out with from the factory. 9 inches minimum at the back is needed to fill the arches out

the charger could get away with the narrow tyres....but not the falcon coupe

marksxr8 · 23-03-2009, 01:13 PM

been in that desicion, went late model kinda miss all the qirks of the old fords but must say really enjoying the xr and so far not looking back...much

Iggypoppin' · 23-03-2009, 09:15 PM

my parents didnt want me to buy the car i bought. but, me being young, i opted for the XR6 and not the family hack mondeo my dad offered me for free. 12 months and its financed to the hills and im selling it-on my parents advice! taking that free mondeo now. i enjoyed my run with it. ill buy a G6ET or F6 in a year or two, after i buy my house. just for now i'd like to have a fourbanger and hope never to make another mistake like that again.

**buggerlugs** · 23-03-2009, 10:12 PM

You gotta have both..................

gtfpv · 23-03-2009, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jphanna

1985 and my VK valiant got cleaned up by P plater going through a stop sign and wrote it off. I was ok (minor injuries) but needed a car soon . I looked at various newish cars back then but i was only 19 and my parents were going to bail me out for some of the cost so they had a say in the type of car i bought. I ended up getting the wedge nose celica (that i mentioned in another post). At the time the celica cost the same as a late model falcon so it wasn’t cheap and i had that for about a year before i spotted a replica mustang GT350 in the window of a crash shop. They were asking around $13,000 back then. I had a good job and the price wasn’t an issue to me.

This was the one and only time i truly fell for a muscle car even though it was a car with an engine (mild from memory?) and looks like that couldn’t possible be considered an everyday driver. It was a complete bumper to bumper rebuild and i couldnt take my eyes of it and i have never been a mustang fan before but it was just THIS car that i fell for. I begged and pleaded with my parents to let me sell the celica and buy this car but no amount of begging, guilt treatment, sulking, anything i could use to convince them to allow me to buy it, worked. They won.
In this case my heart clearly would have won over my head but it was my parents that stopped me from making that decision. They were probably right but i will never know what it would have been like to have, if i won.

Have you ever had to make the hard decision and was it your head or heart that won?

go out and buy that stang you want now mate . your parents were right back then . . but go and buy what you want knowing that your making a decision that your old enough to make . and enjoy .

my father told me that if i buy a gt , i'll have to move out , because he couldn't bare to bury me , whilst living under his roof . he was right .
now i'm alive and old enough to own and enjoy one . and he loves it too.

RIPGMH · 23-03-2009, 10:31 PM

I imagine the mustang would be worth more running or not than a mint "wedge" celica.

Bud Bud · 24-03-2009, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtfpv

go out and buy that stang you want now mate . your parents were right back then . . but go and buy what you want knowing that your making a decision that your old enough to make . and enjoy .

my father told me that if i buy a gt , i'll have to move out , because he couldn't bare to bury me , whilst living under his roof . he was right .
now i'm alive and old enough to own and enjoy one . and he loves it too.

Top post! My dad didn't let me get a V8 when I was young either. He cited the high running costs involved but I knew he was more worried about my well being as well.

jphanna, if you can afford it, go and find one as you will now appreciate it far more now.

Sometimes an itch just has to be scratched!

jphanna · 24-03-2009, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bud Bud

Top post! My dad didn't let me get a V8 when I was young either. He cited the high running costs involved but I knew he was more worried about my well being as well.

jphanna, if you can afford it, go and find one as you will now appreciate it far more now.

Sometimes an itch just has to be scratched!

i had 2 itches, one of them has been srcatched as i blew 20,000 on a jet ski.
the yank classic is a few years away i think. it would need to be one with easy supply of spares (Ford) a timeless coupe body (mustang) between 64 and 70. the javelin is a clean shape but spares would be a nightmare. also on my hit list is studebakers (not on drugs!), you will never mistake a studebaker for anything else on the road. parts would be nightmare.

i still got a few years to fulfil the other itch....

OzJavelin · 24-03-2009, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jphanna

javelin is a clean shape but spares would be a nightmare.

You can't build a whole car from repro parts list a Stang but most of its available from the USA. Biggest issue is patch panels only, no whole panels available ..

jphanna · 24-03-2009, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

You can't build a whole car from repro parts list a Stang but most of its available from the USA. Biggest issue is patch panels only, no whole panels available ..

the javelin is an underrated car no doubt because of its parent company (AMC?) going under. 390 cubes in a tough tight body....you have to wonder how they come up with the matador X a few years later....

Walt Kowalski · 24-03-2009, 12:30 PM

You have raised an excellent question and one that many have been through or will go through.

Onlookers who are not car nuts like us will call it "mid life crisis".

I simply call it finally getting the dough to buy that dream car from when they were 19 and most car nuts will understand you.

I did it. When i was 19 the dream car was either a Porsche 911 or the Dino 246. A little unusual for a kid from a battling western suburbs family but maybe the muscle car urges had been satisfied by dads "demo" cars of Pacers and aussie Chargers from his employer Blue Point Motors.

The owner Frank also imported numerous serious cars and
I also got driven to school in the boss' brand new:

Mach 1 351 Stang
Dodge Charger R/T 426 HEMI
Maserati Ghibli (still remember the sound of that quad cam v8 - really unuisual for 1970)
A top line Camaro -funny I cannoit recall the exact model?

Was that cool or what???

When I finally got the money in 1990 I bought a mint 911 from the original owner for $5,000 US. HEART. It still had the fuchs alloys and everything. All I did was take the late model radio out and put a plaque with words "In this car the music is in the back" The early flat sixes sounded awesome.

They were about 900kgs and mine had the 2.7 litre so performane in its day was really good. It was only the 911T but had more torque than the more expensive 911E and it was kinda close to my dream 911RS. Even though it was a very high quality car for its day I could not cope with it as a daily. SO HEART LOST.

It got sold after I took my wifes Z32 300ZX auto to Eastern Creek in 1991 and it hit me that the Japs were FINALLY making good cars. I hunted for a manual Z32 and enjoyed it for a many years. HEAD won and a good decsion.

When I retired in 2006 I thought "what do i really want in a second car?" My heart said US convertible auto with big block. My head said get that red manual E46 BMW of Dutchys. It has all the fruit including Harmon Kardon and it has all the modern safety - air bags galore, pop up roll bar, electronic gizmos everywhere and it still looks hot but can be used daily if need be. Besides it will be a classic one day and the grandson will love it. So a bit of HEART as well

HEAD AND HEART E46 has turned out to be a great decsison after 2 years of happy ownership and some very special memories. My wife calls it "a weekend away in an hour" Its sweet. And it cost less than most US convertibles.

One other thing my wife and I do these days is rent before we buy. If you can rent a classic rent it. Really use it and get your moneys worth. Quite often driving these old cars is a big disappointment but if it isn't then buy one. I rented a Porsche Boxster S 3. 2litre in Tauranga NZ in January and what a disappointment!!! Gutless but a nice chassis. Would never own one. But shows the value of renting. Not sure who rents US classics but I bet someone does.

So if you go with the HEART do it after some proper driving not just looking at it but be prepared to be disappointed long term if you use it a lot.

Hope you can relate to this and hope it helps.

Walt Kowalski · 24-03-2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jphanna

the javelin is an underrated car no doubt because of its parent company (AMC?) going under. 390 cubes in a tough tight body....you have to wonder how they come up with the matador X a few years later....

Not just the Matador. How about that AMC Pacer? Waynes World car. How ugly was that!

AMC Hornets still look balanced to me and I am surprised more are not turned into super muscle cars. They are so pretty.

jphanna · 24-03-2009, 01:08 PM

[

Onlookers who are not car nuts like us will call it "mid life crisis".

Head V Heart. I think that as a kid it 99% heart but as you get older and get married/house /kids/divorced? You get various things that compete for your cash. You can hock yourself to the eyeballs and buy your dream but for me I cant enjoy my toy unless I own it and pay 100% up front. if that means slumming it for a few years to save the cash then I will. For daily driver (head), if I had no choice, I would take out a loan to buy, but for a toy it must be cash.

When I got my jet ski I had family members claim it was a mid life crisis. Total crap I always wanted a ski boat with a 350 chev from the same time as I spotted that mustang, but i didnt have a garage big enough to store it and I had my dad ridicule me for that as well. I put that dream aside but when my neighbour invited me to ride his jet ski 5 years ago, I had such a buzz I couldn’t believe it, and its small so I can fit in my garage. I Got one and it provides so much fun for me, my kids, and woman as well as many other friends, young and old. Tell me the part about midlife crisis…..

To me, its simple, to want a classic beast (stang?) to cruise in, nice country road and scenery to enjoy, good company to share the experience, nice v8 burble. I had the exact same desire at 19 to want a classic mustang, but if I buy one now, it is a mid life crisis……

I recon the person that coined that title just wasn’t enjoying his or her life and resented watching other people progressing in life and enjoying the fruits of their labours.

gtfpv · 24-03-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jphanna

[

Onlookers who are not car nuts like us will call it "mid life crisis".

Head V Heart. I think that as a kid it 99% heart but as you get older and get married/house /kids/divorced? You get various things that compete for your cash. You can hock yourself to the eyeballs and buy your dream but for me I cant enjoy my toy unless I own it and pay 100% up front. if that means slumming it for a few years to save the cash then I will. For daily driver (head), if I had no choice, I would take out a loan to buy, but for a toy it must be cash.

When I got my jet ski I had family members claim it was a mid life crisis. Total crap I always wanted a ski boat with a 350 chev from the same time as I spotted that mustang, but i didnt have a garage big enough to store it and I had my dad ridicule me for that as well. I put that dream aside but when my neighbour invited me to ride his jet ski 5 years ago, I had such a buzz I couldn’t believe it, and its small so I can fit in my garage. I Got one and it provides so much fun for me, my kids, and woman as well as many other friends, young and old. Tell me the part about midlife crisis…..

To me, its simple, to want a classic beast (stang?) to cruise in, nice country road and scenery to enjoy, good company to share the experience, nice v8 burble. I had the exact same desire at 19 to want a classic mustang, but if I buy one now, it is a mid life crisis……

I recon the person that coined that title just wasn’t enjoying his or her life and resented watching other people progressing in life and enjoying the fruits of their labours.

I SAY go for the " MID LIFE CRISIS" get the stang . borrow the money, you'll own it anyway in a few years . THEN , tow the JET SKI down to the river in it . with your misses /or current women . hahaha .
only problem is . your kids will be watching you . and it may rub off on them . thats probably not such a bad thing though . consider the alternative . "you know you want too" :evil3:

Mongoose · 24-03-2009, 05:39 PM

Heart. I did, it has its downs, but the ups certianly more than make up for it. Pretty much the same as anyone else here, parents did'nt want me to get any kind of older vehicle. So i just bought it without them knowing and showed up in the driveway one afternoon

they will eventually get over it. At first my parents were angry but now there pressuering me to finish it so they can go for a drive!

Walt Kowalski · 24-03-2009, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jphanna

[
..... mid life crisis……

I reckon the person that coined that title just wasn’t enjoying his or her life and resented watching other people progressing in life and enjoying the fruits of their labours.

You are spot on there mate

You will get people think/say that mid life crisis rubbish to you but I reckon ignore them - or better still just laugh. LAUGH OUT REALLY LOUD.

Its only a mid life crisis in their minds.

To us car nuts its doing what we would have done earlier if we had the money. If you don't go with the heart you will forever wonder.

Once you have gone with your heart you can keep it or sell it when/if you are done with it.

Thats what I did before I decided on the 3 very different cars I own.

Horses for courses.

Streets · 24-03-2009, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mongoose

Heart. I did, it has its downs, but the ups certianly more than make up for it. Pretty much the same as anyone else here, parents did'nt want me to get any kind of older vehicle. So i just bought it without them knowing and showed up in the driveway one afternoon

Hahaha I did the same, I will never forget rumbling down the street and pulling into my driveway, grinning from ear to ear, feeling like king dick, and seeing the look on Mum's face. It was priceless.

I was 20 at the time and am 22 now so how's that work out to be a mid-life crisis? The mid-life crisis label is always drummed out by flaccid old bores with smaaaaaaaall weenies who don't have the stones to buy that 20-footer they've always wanted. Or by barkskinned old maids with cobwebs up their twazzers who will just never understand.

gtfpv · 24-03-2009, 06:49 PM

midlife crisis usually comes on at over 30 . its usually related to being wise when young making good decisions , then having enough money to make an uneconomically viable decision . ( not to be confused with making bad monetary decisions when young ) and paying for it with lifestyle for the rest of your life.
at the time of the midlife crisis --- which was termed ; by the tight rrrsses out there who decided that money is the most important thing in life and bank balances growing is everything and must be maintained at the expense of ones whole life.

one decides not to attian great wealth and wants to enjoy things in life that he made appropriate decisions in life to acheive as a young person. this is where lifes crossroads meet and a path is decided .
the midlife crisis man starts to spend and enjoy. the tight arrss starts to invest and live poor, and the pattern forms .
the tight arrses hate the enjoyers and die poor with great wealth . and visa versa .

fos408 · 24-03-2009, 07:31 PM

Yer had a few bought a full on v8 van as my first car great ,lasted a year then bougt jap bikes and road full time for 12 years .At 23 (1984)I use to go down and stick my face to the class on a dealer ship window and drool over the neatest orange phase 3 I have ever layed eyes on ,I think they wanted $13500 ,past on that ,thought about the 246 fly yellow dino around the corner for $24000 ,even had the cash but decided I had better buy a house instead ,this was when you could get one for $30 to $40 ooo. Any way never had cars until I got to 34 (beside $300 bombs for 2 winters ) then I got a vn dunnydore for everyday but at 35 sold the bike and bought a 67 XR stocker to do up,still got it stroker all the googies 390 hp at the wheels and I am now 47 and during this time I also had a 64 thunder bird (sold) a 59 plymouth 2 door Hdtop (thats next) and just finished and sold a 65 musi fastback , so crisis I must still be having one and intend on being in crisis till the day I die